Pit Bulls: What's the appeal?

She's getting better. I'm convinced that the snarly bullshit is solely about acting out. She's just really territorial. We discipline her every time with a loud NO and making her sit every time she lunges or barks at people/bikes and we give her pets and treats and good banjos everytime she lets them pass. She's just a bit dim.

it's like having a retarded child.

Was she being offered a treat in that photo? Bcz that is totally the face pits make when they are being teased with snacks.

Our upstairs neighbors have two pitbull puppies and it is SO ADORABLE esp.since one of them is nervous about stairs.

lol, she's CONSTANTLY making that face and is constantly being told to wait with treat training.
We are snack machines.

Searched the web for "rottweiler attack".
Results 1 - 10 of about 319

Searched the web for "Doberman attack".
Results 1 - 10 of about 492

Searched the web for "german shepherd attack".
Results 1 - 10 of about 141

Searched the web for "pitbull attack".
Results 1 - 10 of about 478

Searched the web for "poodle attack".
Results 1 - 10 of about 31

Your search - "chow-chow attack" - did not match any documents.

okay. there's 3 breeds right there you should require a licence to own then.
(also the media slant agains pitbulls doesn't seem so apparent to me here).

― dyson (dyson), Monday, January 26, 2004 1:00 PM (5 years ago) Bookmark

Results 1 - 10 of about 1,850 for "pug attack". (0.74 seconds)

0_o

Search the web for "pit bull" attack
Results 1 - 10 of about 6,560,000

I bet someone mentioned this, but some of them are very sweet dogs and friendly with strangers.

But I have also been chased by one of the bastards on my bike.

Actually there is a fair amount of pro-pit sentiment on the thread. Many of my favorite dogs have beens pits or pit-mixes. But there is no denying that they are statistically the most likely breed to lethally bite people and that there is fair amount of anti-pit hysteria in the media because of that fact.

whatever dog is most popular among fantastic assholes in any given era is "the most likely breed to lethally bite people". I've seen it shift from Dobermans to German Shepherds to Rotties to Pits in my lifetime. Inevitably, there's a vast hue and cry that boils off as soon as the dog of the moment goes out of style. Nobody is crying about deadly Dobermans anymore; that was a monster of the '80's. The real problem is idiots treating animals like weapons and then acting, unsurprisingly, like idiots.

For all her attitude issues, my pit is considerably better behaved than many similar sized and larger dogs that live in my immediate neighborhood.

pits are awesome. all the ones i've met have been total angels.

whatever dog is most popular among fantastic assholes in any given era is "the most likely breed to lethally bite people"

^

"whatever dog is most popular among fantastic assholes in any given era is "the most likely breed to lethally bite people"."

True, I should have added the caveat "right now" to the end of that statement.

That said I'm pretty sure whatever the time, the rate of reported pit attacks has been well higher than any sort of breed average. A large part of that comes from being a powerful dog which has an unfortunate tendency to be owned by assholes, but I'm not entirely unsympathetic to the viewpoint that powerful dogs are powerful dogs and that this isn't the kind of problem that you are going to have with a french bulldog, a cat or a goldfish.

sure, but by the same token you could say that black people are most likely to murder you.
it's inflammatory rhetoric and I get weary of people treating my beloved pet like every lunge she makes or barking fit she engages in somehow makes her a DANGEROUS ANIMAL but when the poodle on the other side of the street does it, he's just being a dog.
any large non-human animal is potentially dangerous. it's incumbent on the owners to react properly. the fault lies, as it so often does with us, in the "parents" more so than the breed.

er, to clarify "black people are most likely to murder you" if you go solely by loaded statistics without any context.

"er, to clarify "black people are most likely to murder you" if you go solely by loaded statistics without any context."

Except that statement is actually statistically incorrect (if by you, you mean me that is) whereas the other other is actually correct (the highest % of reported bites by breed are by pits.)

I don't disagree that there is a double standard here, but it's not shocking or really even unfair that people are more uncomfortable around powerful dogs who are behaving aggressively than they are around little yipping ankle-biters.

I'm not gonna turn this into a race thread; my fault for leading the discussion that way.
"Highest % of reported bites" ignores a ridiculous amount of context: pits are also drastically misrepresented as overly-abused animals and they're abandoned with ridiculous frequency when dipshit owners discover that their four legged status symbol requires roughly the same amount of attention as a four year old. Again, this isn't the fault of the breed, it's an issue with the owners. The statistics are flatly dumb.

My issue is with people who have one or two bad experiences with a breed (or worse, just read SHOCKING NEWSPAPER STORIES) and paint hundreds of thousands of animals with one scary brush. I've been bit by an Akita once and it took me a while to get over my issue with the breed, but I've gotten there. I'm sympathetic to people's natural prejudices here; that's why I cross the street if I'm walking the girl and people recoil on the sidewalk in front of me. But it's a prejudice nonetheless and one basically born out of ignorance.

Again, to go with the thread beginning:
"ugly, ill-tempered, dangerous and, I imagine, probably smell quite bad"
^has to come from somebody who's either spent time around one or two badly abused pits or, more likely, none at all.

Alex in NYC is complete dipshit on this thread, no doubt about that.

That fact is thought that a % of all dog owners are basically inattentive/incompentent when it comes to training (or even just general attentiveness). It's very difficult for someone who has just been lunged at or barked at or whatever to be able to determine if the dog doing the lunging/barking/whatever is just being naturally exuberant or if it is owned by a complete dipshit. And in the cases of pits/dobermans/rottweillers/akita/ridgebacks or any case where the lunging dog is 1) likely as strong if not stronger than its owner and 2) able to deliver a powerful vicious bite well I don't blame anyone for getting a little agitated. It sucks when people look at your dog and see some vicious stereotype though, no doubt, esp. when the dog is doing nothing more than trotting along (well actually some times it's just funny--my dog is the most mild-mannered thing and occassionally for no visible reason passerbys just freak out and start walking like ninjas around her).

There's always going to be a dog 'most likely to bite people'.

lots of people are just scared of dogs. more are frightened of pits. in my neighborhood, they are animals that are associated with security so I get dumb kids trying to run and incite her out of stupid youth bravado, terrified women and older men who will freeze if we go by or men who coo over her as if she were a tricked out Chevy and want to know if she's breedable. All of the above is odd to me. I've been personally threatened by people when my dog barks or lunges at them and that's a little much.

it's been a learning curve to figure out how to properly sequester her from, oh, EVERYTHING ELSE IN THE WORLD when we go for walks so that no one feels threatened, she gets some freedom and she stays under control. It's always challenging. There are days i wish we'd opted for a dachshund. But I love her and she's a total sweetheart like 90% of the time.

not long ago, my roommate took up an offer on craigslist to care for a really insanely cute pitbull for a month...

http://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=41854e72b9&view=att&th=1223c7d0546b42ce&attid=0.1&disp=inline&zw

we instantly grew so attached to her, and she was nothing but sweet toward every human who came her way. when it came to other dogs tho she was absolutely vicious, and i ended up loathing taking her on walks because other dog owners would give me such nasty looks.

men who coo over her as if she were a tricked out Chevy and want to know if she's breedable

oh hell yeah, that's all you'll get in this area

That fact is thought that a % of all dog owners are basically inattentive/incompentent when it comes to training (or even just general attentiveness).

Agreed on that point, not so much on me being a "complete dipshit," but you're certainly entitled to your opinion.

I did specify that it was "on this thread". I mean your first post isn't exactly a gem you should be proud of.

NY Alex, I need to introduce you to Banjo sometime. She smells great!
I don't see you round here much these days... are you only on ILM threads?

And incidentally, HAVE you spent much time around pit bulls?
I'm not slinging ad hominem here, but it really doesn't sound like you have.

HEe hee hee. Vid of a competition jumping pitty:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lab6c_sKiBw

Set to, for some reason, Evanescence.

:O Her name is Banjo :D

Where are you seeing that Abbott?
A quick google search for "banjo pitbull" reveals some unpleasantness.
We named her that cuz you would wanna play her leg like a banjo. And we love the banjo.

forks is spitting complete truth here

uh pitbull appeal is here. Ten year old dog jumps like a pup and is perfect buddy for sleeping in, playing ball and esp. for dragging my ass out for frosty hikes at the moment. Rescued from shelter 7 years ago (they named him, I didn't).

Hi Henry Bernese Mountain dog, you are not a pit so I didn't feel entitled to post on your thread but thought I bear say hi to you, famous ILX dog.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzuqpOZeyu0

What an awesome dog!

is that a dangerous pit bull tactical jacket???

WKIW your pup.

Tactical jacket in the sense that my pit bull considers himself a delicate flower and doesn't like to go out without it, yes. He also wants to wear dog coats in the house and makes horrible faces at me when I remove them.

spiked collars are so passé

great dog
great great dog

do not like pit bulls one bit

http://usuarios.multimania.es/tmptmp/pit%20bull.gif

pit bulls can be the sweetest motherfuckers ever, btw, and yours is no exception. henry approves!

http://tofuhut.racknine.net/2007/Banjo/DSCN1269.JPG
truly dangerous animals

http://tofuhut.racknine.net/2007/Banjo/DSCN1257.JPG
vicious beasts

i mean i know that i bought a dog from the breed that tends to get the most uber cuddle buddy lovebug vibes in the large breeds (deserved btw), but i grew up w/ german shepherds and dobermans and i sincerely believe that there really arent any bad breeds (and i hang out on the regular w/a rhodesian ridgeback that frequents the neighborhood bar on the regular), just bad breeders and bad owners. pits can be really sweet, and it sucks that theyve gotten such a bad rap.

the thing peeps tend to forget is that dogs basically live to make their owner pleased, its one of the closest and weirdest human/animal bonds, so if some douche wants his dog to be a snapping froth mouthed dick, they will oblige, but all this dangerous breed bullshit is uh bullshit

not all are "vicious beasts," i grant you. is that one yours, forks? cute. and i'm sure totally tame. i know all dogs can be good with proper training and a loving home. but i cannot shake the feeling that pit bulls are an unstable -- and aggressive -- breed. had a near-bad experience with one once, and that was enough for me.

semi-related story: my wife found a male rotweiler a few years ago. i called some vets to see how those dogs did as pets. one told me he had a male and a female rot. he said the female was always kindly and even-tempered. and he said the male was also a good dog, too. but, he said, when he looked into the male rot's eyes, he always knew there could be a problem, and if there was, it would be serious. that stuck with me. we found a good home for "bubba" (my wife's name for the rot), but he didn't stay with us.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBPEHKtOZMY
yeah that black one with the white stripe is mine. pibbles are naturally loving with people but they can be VERY protective of owners and territory. We're going through a rough patch with ours right now where she just wants to bark and lunge at everyone, but it's all fear and showing off; she's had multiple opportunities to do damage and always backs down. We're pretty sure she was abused when younger (scars on leg, came malnourished, runs anytime she sees us with a broom) and was a rescue so i gotta deal with adoption history. It's a constant struggle. but she's being awfully cuddly right now and i think i'm gonna go cuddle with a pit right now.

"smile dog" really wants water methinks

also re: the dangerous dogs argument genetically the closest living breed to the bernese is the rottweiler